Famous Authors – Roald Dahl  Roald Dahl is, without doubt, most children’s favourite author.  But WHY???

What do you like about Roald Dahl’s books and poems?  The characters?  The exciting stories?  Do you think they are funny?

Characters… Dahl’s stories are modern-day fairy tales. His universe is one of magical happenings, peopled by characters who are obviously good or obviously bad.

This polarization of characters is reinforced by detailed descriptions, usually of their physical attributes. Can you think of any characters that look strange? Dahl uses language to create humour.

Dahl constructs whole new languages from sound-words. ‘When all the other giants is galloping off every what way and which to swollop human beans, I is scuddling away to other places to blow dreams into the bedrooms of sleeping children.’ (From the BFG)

‘The Enormous Crocodile laughed so much his teeth rattled together like pennies in a moneybox.’ He uses descriptive language to build a vivid picture in the mind of the reader.

Dahl presents unusual and improbable events as ordinary. ‘They all peered down anxiously at the sharks who were cruising slowly round and round the peach.’ From James and the Giant Peach

Can you think of any other unusual and unbelievable events in any Roald Dahl stories?